Private Collection - Querelle
by Parfumerie Generale

Querelle opens up with a citric vibe accompanied by a light vetiver note that within minutes, give space to a black cumin note mixed with cinnamon taking us to a more spicy aspect of the fragrance, but not something overdone.

Here the cinnamon followed by a light incense note appears giving to this particular fragrance, a very nice mysterious vibe, as if the incense was not on my skin, but surrounding me in the environment.

Through time, the base shows up leaving a slightly heavy incense aroma, but again, not something overdone, making me think about L'air du Desert Marocain a little bit.

11th October, 2011.

Classically masculine, very 80s. Utterly conventional & ultimately uninteresting. Starts with the brightness of mandarin, moves to a hot cinammon & dry myrrh, earthy vetiver & dirty oakmoss. The cinammon decrescendos & you're left with myrrh & bitter vetiver roots on the forest floor. Smells like any number of drugstore aftershaves.

19th February, 2011.

The ambergris note in the base qualifies this to be called an oriental, along with the myrrh and incense notes. Woods, in the form of vetiver, share the space with the deeper notes. There is a hint of a chypre about it as well, because the citrus and oakmoss make a reference that is not totally subordinated to the dominant oriental theme. Black caraway and cinnamon provide a spicy vibe, and the complete absence of floral notes marks this as a definite "masculine" in terms of traditional gender classifications of scents. The associations with Jean Genêt's novel of murder and raunchy whorehouse sex belie the beauty of this scent — unless you consider, as Genêt did, that murder and raunchy sex can be beautiful...

11th February, 2011.

A very high quality fragrance from Parfumerie Generale. Maby the most intresting. It reminds me a bit of good old Paco Rabane Pour homme! It`s like a very refined, darker, complex version of Paco Rabane. Very unique stuff, and great for all fragrance connoisseurs. It`s classified as unisex, but I can`t imagine this on a woman.

1st February, 2011.

I would have expected something transgressive, or at least animalic, from a scent named after Genet’s dark novel of masochistic lust, homosexual rape, blackmail, and murder, but that’s not what Querelle delivers. Granted, Querelle projects some of the hyper-masculine swagger embodied in Genet’s characters, but it smells to me more of a gentleman’s club than of a gay leather bar or a brothel full of randy sailors. I realize that the scent itself is more important than the label, but with such a loaded name, I just can’t help wishing for a provocative scent – something along the lines of Muscs Koublaï Khan, Oud Cuir d’Arabie, Kouros, or even Pierre Guillaume’s own Intrigant Patchouli.

Instead, Querelle presents a bundle of bitter aromatic notes and sweet bergamot in a relatively traditional spicy fougère accord, with some of the same in-your-face, ‘70s and ‘80s style intensity you'd get from Yatagan, Azzaro pour Homme, or Balenciaga’s Portos. (In fact, Querelle’s scent pyramid overlaps very heavily with Azzaro’s!) It’s an appealing formula, since few scents of this sort are composed nowadays, but I don’t feel that Pierre Guillaume has brought anything new to the table with Querelle. If you like this kind of scent, you can get Azzaro, or the even more daring Yatagan for less than a quarter of Querelle’s niche market price.

12nd December, 2009. (Last Edited: 13rd December, 2009.)

Querelle is an pretty intense scent with lovely contrast of sweet and bitter accords. to the extent, the mood is pretty dark and it's by no means our tradional vetiver based scent. the openign accords are laden with (sooty) Incense and sharp spices. maybe black caraway. the accord is pungent in a very sharp way at the same time it's beautiful. it takes this scent least an hour to setle down and that whne the game of contrasts begin. it begins with a soft and sweet note of cinnamon..so what was until now a dark scent suddenly shows a bit of sweetness under it's fold..depending on how it wears on one's skin the prominenece of cinnamon and dakr accords of vetiver could vary.
It is indeed a strange scent. strange in the most beautifully challenging way. get it while it's still available...a premium release by Parfumerie Generale.

14th August, 2009. (Last Edited: 18th August, 2009.)